Improvement in the manufacture of floor-cloth and imitation leather



UivirEn STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JOHN CHARLES, OF LONDON, AND CHARLES TAYLOR, OF PONDERS END, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR-CLOTH AND IMITATION LEATHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 151,958, dated June 16, 1874 application filed May 29, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J onN CHARLES, of No. 9 Ironmonger Lane, in the city of London, and CHARLES TAYLOR, of Ponders End, Middlesex, England, sul'xjects of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented or discovered new an d useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Floor-Cloth, called Corticine, and of Leather Cloth or Imitation Leather; and we, the said JOHN CHARLES and CHARLES TAYLOR, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertainedin and by the following statement thereof-that is to say:

This invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture offloor-cloth called corticine and of leathcr cloth or imitation leather.

We take boiled linseed or other drying oil, and again boil itwith caustic lime and boraX, Sty one pound of each to the hundred-weight of oil. The boiling is continued for many hours, until the oil, when cold, is nearly as stiff as putty.

Man ganate of soda may also advantageously be employed in this process, being substituted for the borax. In this case the boiling will occupy from six to eight hours. WVhen the material is cooled we knead into the mass another half pound of caustic lime, or, better still, we wash and knead it well in lime-water or milk of lime.

We also, in making floor-cloth, knead into the boiled oil an equal weight, or more, of ground cork. We spread the compound with rollers upon a woven fabric, and afterward, in some cases, we rub down the surface with a pumicestone roller.

Together with ground cork, or as a substitute for it, fibrous material, Such as paperpulp,may be used. The fiber may conveniently be carded. The bat or fleece is then laid 011 the composition, and passed with it between rollers. This operation is repeated until thefull quantity of fiber has been worked in.

In making leather cloth or imitation leather neither cork-dust nor fiber is required. In some cases we soften the composition by the addition of rape-oil or other non-drying oil. Pigment may also be added to the compound.

In place of lime, other alkaline earth may be employed, but less advantageously. In place of oil boiled with li me, as above described, oil which has been oxidized by exposure to air may be used, and in such case we employ lime in the manner above described, either kneading it into the oxidized oil or working the oxidized oil in lime-water or milk of lime. We thus bring. the oxidized oil into a state fit for use without the addition of resins, as is now usual.

Having thus described the nature of our said invention, and the manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we claim as our improvements in the manufacture of fioorcloth called corticine, and leather cloth or imitation lea-ther 1. The treatment of boiled linseed-oil or other drying-oil with an alkaline earth, such as lime, in the preparation of the covering composition, substantially as described.

2. The treatment of oxidized oil with an alkaline earth, such as lime, in the preparation of the covering composition, substantially as described.

3. The manufacture of floor-cloth called corticine, and of leather cloth or in'iitation leather, substantially as described.

J OHN CHARLES. CHARLES TAYLOR. 

